Most Important Woman
by actlikesummer
Summary: Set in 'Promise of a New Season' but AU after Brendan yelling at PJ. What if a disaster made Brendan realize the words he said were too harsh? OOC for sure.


**Hey guys! So I got this idea while watching the episode 'Promise of A New Season' from season 1. I know this is totally OOC for them and for the show, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I hope you like it.**

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><p>It was a beautiful Tuesday night, and the city of Chicago was lit up and alive. At Crowley's, a group of friends sat around a table and realized that something was weird.<p>

"Dude, this is weird." Mike commented.

"I know. PJ hasn't hung out with us in like…a week. What's up with that?" Kenny agreed.

Bobby nodded at his friends. "Yeah I think it was right after the draft. I called her the next day and she didn't answer."

"And what was with Stephanie ruining poker night?" Mike turned to Andy. "Has she said anything to you?"

He shrugged. "No. I mean, we haven't spoken either. This is really weird."

"Hey Brendo, you guys are close." Kenny turned to him.

Brendan sighed. Part of him felt bad, because he had a good idea of what might be wrong, but he couldn't believe that the things he had said would affect her that much.

_It had been a pretty good night until PJ had stolen Jeter from him. And why was she being rude to Colleen? What the hell is up with that?_

_He pushed the door open and found her in the living room. "Hey. What is your problem?" He demanded to know. "First you take Jeter on purpose, and then you're rude to Colleen?"_

"_Dude! You don't bring a date to the draft. Come on you know that; we have traditions." She reminded him quickly._

_He scoffed. "You are never, ever, nice to the women that I date."_

_She shook her head. "Well, get better taste in women."_

"_PJ? You know what? Sometimes, you are not the center of all of our attention, okay? I know that's really hard for you to accept that-"_

_She tried to cut him off. "Okay, that's uncalled for."_

"_Oh is it?" He argued._

"_Yeah."_

"_Or is it time that you grew up and dealt with the fact that there are other women in our lives that we'd rather spend our time with, than you?" He spit out. "Because there are! So get used to it."_

_He barely took the time to notice her jaw hanging open and her confused eyes before he turned and stormed out of the apartment._

"No…she hasn't talked to me at all, and she won't answer my phone calls." He paused. "Maybe Stephanie knows something?"

He pulled his phone out and called her.

"_Hello?"_

"Steph. Do you know what's up with PJ? She won't talk to us at all."

"_Really? I wonder why? Oh yeah, because you're an ass."_

He looked up. "She hung up on me."

They were shocked. "Wow. Well, someone has to figure out what is going on, and I say that someone is Brendan." Mike said quickly and Bobby, Andy, and Kenny agreed.

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><p>Brendan sighed as he stood outside the door to PJ's apartment, hoping she would forgive him. However when he went to open it, he found that it was locked. "That's weird." He mumbled and tried his key. However, that didn't work either.<p>

Giving up, and becoming very confused, he knocked and a moment later came face to face with a furious Stephanie. "What do you want?"

He stared at her. "Is PJ here?"

She cocked an eyebrow. "Why, so you can yell at her again?"

He shook his head. "No. So I can talk to her. What are you, her keeper?" He pushed past her and suddenly stopped. "Whoa."

Her apartment was trashed. There was stuff everywhere and some furniture was broken. "What the hell happened?"

Stephanie glared at him. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

He sighed. "Come on, Steph. She's my best friend, even if I did lose my temper. What's going on?" He was slightly worried now; her apartment rarely ever looked this bad.

She stared at him and then turned on her heel, heading towards PJ's room. "I am going to go out for a little bit for food. Will you be okay?" He heard a quiet mumble from PJ and then Stephanie turned around again.

"Come on, jerk." She pulled him by his shirt out the door and locked it behind her.

Once they were seated with food, he pressed her again. "What is going on? You're kind of scaring me." He smirked, in hopes that he was overreacting.

She sighed and clasped her hands. "You know, I really shouldn't be telling you this, after the way you acted."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, okay? But she can be very overbearing when it comes to the women we date."

Stephanie nodded. "I know. But that was harsh and not the way to tell her that." As the waiter came, she surprised Brendan by ordering a beer.

"Steph…you never drink beer." He commented.

She shrugged. "Yeah well, the things that happened this week should never have happened, but they did and so is this."

The smirk slid off of his face, and he gave her a look and she sighed again. "Do you remember Hank?"

He nodded. "Yeah, didn't they break up?"

She nodded quickly. "Well apparently after you yelled at her, her called her. He wanted to talk about something, and against her better judgment she said yes."

"Okay…I'm not really getting the reason for everything though…"

"I'm not done yet." She growled. "Anyway, she texted me and told me he was coming over to talk and of course I called her stupid for it. So I waited a few hours and then decided that if he was still there when I got there, I would make her come to her senses." She paused and looked down, taking a big sip of her beer. "But when I got there, the door was slightly open and when I went in…" She trailed off. "I first saw the table had been broken, and then I saw glass on the floor around the couch. The weird thing was I didn't see PJ…at first. Then I heard the crying."

"What happened?" He asked, his hand gripping the bottle for dear life but not actually taking a sip.

She didn't speak for a minute, and then she took a deep breath. "The crying was coming from your room."

"It's not my room." He said quickly. "It's the guest room."

She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm. "Give it up. She might call it the guest room, but in reality, it's your room. It always has been and it always will be." She took another sip and continued. "Anyway, I went in and found her curled up on the floor. She was beaten pretty bad, Brendan."

Brendan felt like the air had been punched out of him. "What?"

She nodded. "She was on the floor, all bloody and black and blue...I didn't even realize at first…" She stopped.

He waited and then took her hand. "What, Steph? You didn't realize what?"

She took a shaky breath. "Brendan…her clothes were ripped and…her pants had been torn off."

If he had any air left in his body, it left him right then and he felt light-headed as she continued. "She was bawling and freaked when I went near her. She was scared, Brendo. And she just kept saying your name."

"What didn't you call me?" He demanded quickly, anger rising up to cover his sadness and the tears he wanted to cry.

"I tried!" She exclaimed. "She wouldn't let me. She wouldn't let me call any of you. She didn't want to be the girl that tried to make everything about her, especially after an argument."

He closed his eyes and his grip on her hand tightened. "Oh my God. Now I feel like an even bigger jerk." He paused. "How…is she?"

"Broken." She said without thought or feeling. "Completely broken and she will barely talk to me."

He nodded and sighed. "I want to see her."

Stephanie shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea right now."

"I have to see her, Steph." He said and she could see the hurt in his eyes.

Finally, she nodded. "Fine. But only you. And don't tell the guys yet, I don't know if she would want that."

He nodded and stood, following her back to the apartment. Once inside, Brendan paused. He was suddenly nervous, afraid that she would hate him. But as he opened her door he saw just how broken she was and realized that it was even bigger than him.

"Peej…"

She quickly turned in her bed and stared at him through bruised eyes. "She told you."

"I'm sorry for everything. I shouldn't have said that." He said quickly, not knowing what else to say.

She nodded and he could see tears on her face. "Bren…"

He slowly walked to her and when she didn't freak out, other than some slight flinches, he figured it would be okay to sit down on the edge of the bed. However, when he reached to take her hand she panicked, and shot out of the bed into the corner.

"No! Stop!" She screamed and wrapped her arms around herself.

Stephanie was instantly at the door and they both stared at her with pity and sadness in their eyes. Brendan sighed and held his hands out at his sides.

"PJ…it's okay. It's me, Brendan. I'm not going to hurt you." He said quietly and carefully, taking a small step forward.

She didn't shy away, so he took another and another, until he was right in front of her. He held his hand in front of her so she could see it, and slowly set in on her shoulder. The minute it touched her, however, she leaned into his chest and started sobbing, gripping his shirt tightly in her fist.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her head against his chest. "It's okay. He can't hurt you anymore. I won't let him."

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><p>Brendan had no clue how he was supposed to tell the guys about this. PJ had quietly given him the okay, and after promising to be back within the hour, he left to talk to them. But standing outside the door of Crowley's, he suddenly realized that he had no idea how to say it.<p>

He walked in and slowly sat down at their table.

"Hey dude, so what'd you find out?" Bobby asked; the dopey grin on his face.

He sighed and opened his mouth but Mike cut him off. "Dude you will never guess who we just saw and is now playing darts? Hank."

Instantly Brendan whipped his head around and saw Hank playing darts with his friends. Without a word, he shot out of his chair and ran over there. The minute Hank saw him he knew that Brendan knew.

Brendan grabbed his shirt and punched him, and didn't stop. "That is for PJ, you son of a bitch!"

He got a few more in until Mike and Andy pulled him off. "What the Hell, Brendo?"

He ignored them. "Kenny call the cops. Now."

Kenny quickly pulled out his cell phone, realizing that something was wrong, and dialed 911.

"Dude, what's going on?" Bobby asked quickly and Brendan stared down at Hank.

"Why? What possessed you to do something like that, huh? What did she ever do to you? You don't do that to someone, you sick bastard." He shouted, and Mike tightened his grip around his friend.

Hank scoffed. "What like you? You killed her with the words you shouted at her. I thought, maybe now she would grow up and realize that she was growing out of your friendship but no. She didn't, so I decided to try it a different way."

"Brendan, what the hell is going on?" Kenny asked the minute he was off the phone.

He stared at Hank and pushed himself out of Mike's grip. "This jack ass came and had drinks with PJ again."

Mike was confused. "Dude that's-"

"He raped her."

In that moment, Hank realized he was a dead man. He wouldn't get out of jail and he wouldn't get out of a beating. He knew that he was doomed, all from the glares from the five angry men in front of him.

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><p>When Brendan got back to the apartment a little while later, he saw that PJ was curled up on the couch in one of his sweatshirts. He sighed and slowly sat down next to her. "They got him, Peej."<p>

She looked up at him. "What?"

He nodded. "He was at the bar when I was telling the guys. We beat the shit out of him and the cops came and took him away."

It killed him that she didn't even have it in her to give him a small smile. She just looked so dead. "PJ…I promise, that I won't let anything else happen to you. I was wrong and I said some things I shouldn't have. You are one of the most important people in our lives. You are like our leader. Peej, without you we would have been lost a long time ago." He sighed. "Yes, we have other women in our lives, but…you are the most important one."

She looked up at him. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head and held her tightly. "You have nothing to be sorry for." He faced her. "PJ, you are my best friend. And after our kiss things became weird and it scared me. But no matter how much of a jerk I am, and no matter what we are doing at the time...if you need us, don't hesitate. Because sure, you drive us crazy sometimes," he smirked, "but we care about you. And we'd be here in a heartbeat for you. No matter what. Especially...me."

She bit her lip. "I love you."

For the hundredth time that day, his heart stopped. "I love you too."

In the morning, he'd call Colleen and break it off. In the morning, he'd let the guys come over and help PJ get through this. In the morning, they'd talk to the cops and send Hank away for a really long time. In the morning, he'd get the guys to help him move his stuff back into the apartment.

But right now, he'd stay on that couch, holding his best friend. Sure, she could be overbearing and pushy and sometimes jealous and confusing…but he couldn't deny his feelings for her. And even though she had been through something that no one should have to go through…they'd get through it. Together.


End file.
